From Strangers To Partners
by kickslikeapony
Summary: Rachel is 25, and she has landed her second big role. But fate has it that she has to have chemistry with one Cooper Anderson, whom she just can't stand. Over the course of rehearsals and performances, will they be able to go from strangers to partners?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I have no idea why I'm writing this, but this idea has been rolling around my head for a pretty long time and it refuses to go away. If there's any interest, I'll continue the story. :) This is slightly AU. It's like Big Brother never happened, basically. So Cooper never went to McKinley for a visit. I wrote this in the middle of the night, so I'm sure there's much to improve on!**

"Why are we doing this? I mean, we must be over this by now, aren't we?"

"I am."

"Good. Then don't feel like you owe me any favours… Just treat me like everybody else."

"Is that what you really want from me? Is this really what you want to do?"

The two actors paused here, and glanced at their director.

"Good," he eventually said, "but it could be better. I've worked with the two of you separately before, and you two working together should be spectacular. But I'm not seeing it. Work on it, give me that tomorrow. That's all for today."

Rachel Berry stood, and sighed softly as she walked over to her bag. Ever since she had entered NYADA, luck seemed to be shining on her. After all, she was twenty-five, and this was already her second role. And Cassie was an important role.

But luck might be starting to desert her, starting with the problem of Zach. Or rather, the actor playing Zach. She glanced across the room at the man who irritated her so much. As if sensing her gaze, he turned around and smirked, raising his eyebrows. Rachel rolled her eyes in response, and quickly grabbed her bag. She walked out of the room, headed for the elevator, the street, and away from Cooper Anderson.

* * *

To be quite honest, he had no idea why he had agreed to be on Broadway. After all, he had always believed that Broadway was dead. Is dead. Still, unapologetically ordering people around was something he played well, and since this also paid well… That spoke for itself, didn't it?

In the years since his Free Credit Rating days, Cooper had done pretty well, even if he did say so himself. He had bit parts in assorted movies and television shows, a guest spot on CSI, a recurring role on another series, and his very own supporting role for the past two years. Casting directors had commended him on improvement in his acting, and if it was according to him, a leading role in a movie would be next.

According to his manager though, Broadway was next.

He lugged his backpack over his shoulders and left the room. The elevator doors were just closing, and he lunged forward to press the button. The doors slid open again, revealing one Rachel Berry. Her eyes were slightly wider, lips parted as if she was about to speak. As their gazes locked, her mouth clamped shut, and her eyes narrowed.

The girl was oddly intriguing. She seemed to be perennially annoyed with him; with anyone else she was cheerful, bubbly, slightly bossy, even. He had no idea what he had done to piss her off, or if she just had some kind of weird prejudice against him.

The elevator doors quickly opened again, this time releasing them onto the ground floor of the building. Without as much as a goodbye, Rachel walked past him and out of the door.

_Well, goodbye to you, too, _Cooper thought wryly.

_And our dear director says we have to work on our chemistry. How's that going to happen?_

* * *

Rachel quickly hailed a taxi, even though she knew there was no danger of Cooper exiting through this door. He would go round back to the carpark, but she didn't want to risk having him pass by this road. She didn't like talking to him, the condescending fellow who only got the role because he was famous and hot.

Perhaps what really stoked the flames for her utter dislike of Cooper Anderson was an interview of his that she had read about a year back. He had proclaimed Broadway dead, and it didn't seem to be in jest. It had offended her in every way, since Broadway was her career, her life, her reason for being!

_How am I supposed to work "spectacularly" with Cooper tomorrow? Or ever?_

She just about groaned out loud in the taxi. Tonight she would practise her dancing. Cooper would have to remain a problem until tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's a quick chapter to thank those of you who reviewed or added this to your favourites or story alerts! You don't know how happy you make me. By the way, if you'd like to see what Rachel was practising, search on YouTube for "music and the mirror elizabeth earley". The first video, from 3:18 to about 3:45, is pretty much what you should visualise. ;)**

She took a deep breath as she stood, back facing the wall of mirrors. Softly, she sang the line before her dance solo.

"All I ever needed was the music and the mirror, and the chance to dance…"

Quickly, she spun around to face the mirror, counting the beat as the music played in her head. She moved, graceful yet determined, entering the mind of Cassie. _I need this. I need to get in the chorus._ She spun again, and after a high kick, continued with the spins. And it was in the middle of one of these spins that she stopped abruptly, distracted.

Or, more accurately, she teetered to an awkward stop mid-spin, as she noticed Cooper leaning against a wall. His arms were crossed, as he stared straight at her with a smirk that she wanted to smack off his face. _Distracting me!_ she thought huffily.

Rachel was about to return to her practice, when the man leaned down to pick up two Starbucks cups, and walked towards her.

"You dance well," he said, coming to a stop in front of her.

"Is that all you wanted to say?" she returned, carefully rearranging her untied hair, slightly messed from all the turns she had been doing. "I'm busy here."

Cooper laughed, eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. "I also wanted to say, this is your coffee, and we need to talk."

She couldn't deny that they did have to talk, and work their lines together. Pursing her lips, she asked, "How do you know what coffee I drink?"

He laughed again. Her neck was starting to get a little tired, because of how much taller he was, and she had to tilt her head up to look him in the eye when he stood so close. "Apparently, you're a regular at this Starbucks store, and the staff knows what Miss Rachel Berry drinks. Latte with soy milk, take it." He held out one of the cups, and nodded at it. When she took it warily, he pointed at a corner of the room, where her bag was. "Let's sit down."

* * *

Cooper was a lot of things. People had called him an arrogant, dick-headed son of a bitch, among many other names. He couldn't disagree with most of them, but he knew if there was one thing he wasn't, it was ignorant.

He had noticed that if he stayed in the rehearsal space during lunch, Rachel would go out with a couple of the girls, or sometimes alone. If he went for lunch, she would stay in. Well, with the mandate from Mr. Director that they had to improve – fast – from whatever they had produced last evening, this wouldn't do.

So he had made a big show of going out for lunch alone, ensuring that Rachel knew he wasn't going to be anywhere near the room during lunch break. But all he had done was to go across the street to grab coffee for both of them. On the way, he had stopped Lisa, who played Val and had lunched at least five times with Rachel.

"_What coffee does Rachel drink?"_

"_Latte with soy… wait. Why are you asking?"_

"_Uh, well. Don't tell her I asked. Latte with soy milk?"_

"_Yeah…"_

She had looked at him suspiciously. Probably being protective of her friend and aware of her blatant dislike of him, he guessed. He repeated his request for Lisa to keep mum about this conversation, before quickly heading off to buy the damn coffee.

And as of now, his plan had been quite a success. They were both sitting down in a corner of the room, where both their bags were. As he reached into his bag to replace his wallet, Rachel suddenly demanded, "When did your bag get here?"

Oh, right. That had been another problem. She would usually put her bag as far from his as possible. Too bad he also had friends in the show, and he had asked them to try to move his bag to where hers was before he returned.

"It walked over from the other side of the room."

She looked at him, eyebrows raised and unimpressed. He cleared his throat, unaccustomed to facing unimpressed women he wasn't auditioning for. "So, uh, as you know, we are expected to work spectacularly together."

"Yes." Her answer was short, her tone clipped, and she immediately returned to drinking her latte.

Well, given this blatant show of hostility, she was probably going to spit her latte in his face when he said what he had to say.

* * *

"I think we need to spend time together."

What the. She stared at him in disbelief, nearly spitting her latte out. "What did you say?"

He shifted a little, almost looking uncomfortable. Who would have thought, cocky Cooper feeling uncomfortable? "I think we need to spend time together. Like, off work."

Rachel hadn't expected that sort of request. She had thought he would ask for something like practising their lines now, which she could gladly agree to. "So you want to be friends?" Somehow the incredulity she was feeling slipped out. She flushed a little, but she wasn't going to apologise.

He was silent for a couple of seconds, and when he spoke there seemed to be some anger simmering underneath the surface. "As an actress, I'm sure you know it's not easy to fake chemistry with someone you hate. What I am proposing is that we should get to know each other better, so acting together will be easier." He stared at her coolly, returning to silence as she tried to formulate a response.

Well. She couldn't argue with what he had said. And she wanted to be a wonderful Cassie, if not the best. So there really was only one answer, wasn't there?


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel felt her roommate's eyes following her as she moved around in the kitchen, cooking dinner for the both of them. She had been ignoring it for a while now, but their spaghetti was almost done, and Lisa was proving to be unrelenting in whatever she was trying to do.

Lisa was always unrelenting.

Rachel sighed softly. There was a time when she thought she would never meet anyone with more tenacity than herself. Even back in Lima, she had taken music classes, dance classes, and all sorts of performing lessons she could get. She had muscled her way into extracurriculars that she really had no business being in, because she wanted to beef up on her school involvement. And her daily workout regime kept her focused on her immediate goal, which in senior year had been getting into NYADA. Perhaps her journey of actually getting into NYADA was the best testament to how persistent, and some would say annoyingly so, she could be.

Then Lisa had come along, during one of her first auditions. Rachel had liked her immediately. She was straightforward, self-admitted to be occasionally snarky, and fierce when she needed to be. Fierce in attitude, demeanour, and spirit. She would throw herself into her dance and wouldn't stop until she perfected a move. It was the same for anything she did – drawing, memorising lines, digging for information… And in the event of any verbal sparring, nine out of ten times Lisa would be the winner. Then, in that tenth time, Lisa's opponent would come out heavily wounded as well. No one in their right mind would want to cross Lisa Jenners. Rachel had found that out almost as soon as they met, and she loved Lisa all the more for her determined loyalty for her nearest and dearest.

She counted herself lucky to be one of Lisa's best friends, but it didn't mean they never got a little exasperated with each other from time to time. And this seemed to be leading up to exasperation of some sort if Lisa continued staring at her as if she wanted to see into her deepest darkest secrets.

"Spaghetti's done!" Rachel announced, and winced slightly at the over-chirpiness of her voice. She had no reason to feel unsettled, really, other than Lisa's patented all-knowing stare, which had been burning a hole into her back for the past fifteen minutes. After placing their plates on the table, she plopped down on to her seat, and started eating.

She had gotten to her third mouthful of spaghetti when Lisa finally spoke. "Okay, I've been wondering all day. Is there something going on between you and Cooper?" she demanded.

Rachel hadn't known what to expect, but this was such an absurd question that she nearly spit out the pasta. It ended up halfway between a choke and a cough, and she had to take a drink of water before she could answer.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Well, I think there is, so I'm asking."

"Oh!" Rachel's eyes widened, and gleamed with delight, as she sensed the possibility of finding fodder to tease Lisa with. "You like Cooper? Is that it?"

"No!" Lisa exclaimed in reply, almost with disgust. "Rach, seriously, he's not my type at all! I'll take a playboy any day, and we both know that's what he is, but I like them boys scruffier and a lot more British."

They both laughed, and the blonde continued. "I saw you guys having what seemed to be a top-secret conversation during lunch break. And, uh," she faltered slightly, before finishing with a lame "yeah."

"And what?" Rachel asked, curious.

"And yeah!" Lisa repeated, more insistent this time. Clearly, she wasn't intending to explain, as she barrelled on. "So tell me about this conversation you had."

Rachel took another bite of spaghetti before speaking, "He said we should spend more time together. So we're going to Central Park on Sunday."

"Ooh, Central Park!" Lisa teased, as Rachel made a face at her. "Afternoon? Or evening?"

"Afternoon," she said immediately. "You know my evenings are only for people I like. And when forced, for work. At this point I wasn't forced, so no evenings for Cooper."

"I know you hate the guy and everything," Lisa said a few moments later, between mouthfuls of spaghetti, "but he actually seems pretty okay. Plus he's pretty hot, too – you have to admit that."

Rachel shook her head. "He has that smug cocky attitude all the time. I just don't like him. I only agreed to the whole Central Park thing because you know, director says we can do better."

"But he's hot, right?"

She rolled her eyes at Lisa. It was clear she wouldn't let up until she got the answer she wanted from Rachel. "Yes, alright, he's hot."

Her roommate pumped her arm in the air in triumph, cheering for herself for whatever victory she thought she had scored. So Cooper Anderson was hot – big deal. As far as Rachel was concerned, hot guys were not going to get a free pass for shit attitude.

* * *

Later that night, as the two of them retired to their beds, Lisa poked her head into Rachel's room. "Have fun on your date on Sunday," she said with a cheeky smile.

"It's not a date."

"Yeah, right, it's not," Lisa replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she went back to her own room.

"It's not!" Rachel called.

"As your roommate of two years, Miss Berry, I pride myself on knowing you better than you know yourself."

"As inhabitant of my own body for twenty-five years, I assure you it's not a date!"

She heard Lisa snicker, and a soft "yeah, right, not a date" and further murmurings. Rachel pretended not to hear that, knowing for sure if she argued it, it would go on forever. Still, Lisa's words followed her into her sleep, accompanied by thoughts of her favourite coffee.

_Have fun on your date on Sunday!_

It wasn't a date, was it?

**A/N: In response to Lena's review - yes, Kurt and Blaine will be appearing in some capacity. In fact, they will be appearing really really soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

The incessant ringing of his phone woke him up. Bleary-eyed, Cooper rolled over in his bed, feeling for his phone on his bedside table. He felt something drop onto the floor, before he finally found the source of the noise that had interrupted his sleep.

Without looking at the name on the screen, he took the call. "What," he demanded, growling into the phone.

"What's this about you on a date with Rachel Berry?" A familiar voice snarled back in response.

Rubbing his face with his free hand, he blinked a couple of times at his clock. 5:00 AM. Oh, just because it was daylight in other parts of the world, it didn't mean that New York had begun its morning.

"Do you realise it's not actually morning yet in New York?"

"Answer my question!" It sounded like a hiss with barely-contained fury.

"What did you ask– a date with Rachel?" Cooper's mind was slowly starting to function properly after the abrupt adjustment from sleep to wakefulness.

"Don't deny it, Coop. I'm looking at photos! Look, I don't care what you do, and you know I don't call you if I don't have to, but Rachel's my friend, and I don't–"

"Rachel's your friend?" He interrupted his brother mid-sentence, speeding along in his train of thought, "Why didn't you tell me when I told you about _A Chorus Line_?"

"Tell me about the date first," Blaine replied evenly, speaking in staccato, and Cooper knew from his tone that he was angry enough to rip him apart if they were in the same room.

"It wasn't a date."

"Really? Alright, let me read some headlines to you. _New couple alert! Cooper Anderson and Rachel Berry spotted in Central Park!_"

Cooper was starting to understand where his brother was coming from. _Central Park, huh. Of course, where else? _Meanwhile, Blaine continued his rant on the phone.

"_Cooper Anderson dating latest co-star Rachel Berry?_ Oh, and there's this wonderful line, in the article. 'We'll have to come up with a portmanteau for this cute couple!'"

"Blaine, you know better than to trust those tabloids. That wasn't a date."

"Okay, then tell me about your non-date."

As he replaced a fallen tissue box back on the table, Cooper said, "Our director says we don't have enough chemistry, so we tried to make chemistry happen."

* * *

"On a carousel?" Her best friend exclaimed over the phone, "Rachel Barbra Berry, how do you practise lines on a carousel?"

Upon breaking for lunch, Rachel had checked her phone and found a torrent of messages from Kurt Hummel.

_U R ON EVERY WEBSITE!_

_Call me asap!_

_When u have time google urself n CALL ME!_

Her curiosity was piqued, and she had quickly rushed off alone to a nearby café. Following Kurt's instructions, she had googled herself on the way. And what she had found had been… interesting. She had to commend whoever had taken the photos – she hadn't noticed anyone snapping the shutter.

And she knew those photos gave weight to the dating rumours because they looked like they were really enjoying themselves.

* * *

Sunday was their day off, and Cooper had held her to their agreement. He had insisted on picking her up at her apartment, the plan being that they would go straight to Central Park from there. After enduring a whole Saturday of Lisa teasing her about this supposed date, Rachel had spent extra time in the morning deliberating about what to wear. She didn't want to give off any impression, no matter how remote, that she saw this as anything more than a necessary evil. Eventually, she had settled on one of her many casual dresses – a white one, with red dots and blue rose prints. Her entire outfit was basically blue and white, and she had been pretty pleased with herself, until Cooper arrived.

Perhaps it was because they didn't usually see each other outside of work, but the first thing Rachel noticed was the slight straining of his t-shirt against his body. It was tight, and anyone could easily see the hint of his muscles beneath.

_It's because of our height difference_, Rachel told herself, trying to bring her mind back from wherever it had started to stray to. _His chest is not fascinating. At all._

She had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right, but she was distracted again as she glanced at his face. Aside from the glint of amusement in his eyes, there was no sign of his trademark smirk. In its place was a soft smile that was so un-Cooper that Rachel was momentarily caught off guard. Fortunately, she was saved from any acts of insanity or embarrassment, as Lisa bounded out from her room and proclaimed, "Two hotties going on a date! And what is this – colour coordination?"

And that was when she realised that while Cooper's choice in colours was more muted, his colour scheme for the day was blue and black. By some strange coincidence, their outfits had matched. Rachel stifled a groan as Lisa, whose teasing knew no boundaries, proceeded to waggle her eyebrows in a highly exaggerated fashion. But it got a loud laugh from Cooper, and he said, "I thank you for your blessings, Miss Jenners."

Lisa mock-curtsied, and Rachel felt the corners of her lips tugging upwards. "See you later, Lisa," Rachel grinned at her friend's antics.

"Trying to get rid of me now, are you?"

She rolled her eyes, as her roommate laughed and sent them on their way.

The ride there was pretty uneventful. They tried to start up a conversation a couple of times, but since neither of them knew the other well, it never went beyond work. Or Broadway, or Hollywood, which really was still work. They eventually gave up on conversation, and Cooper switched on the radio instead.

_Top 40 radio,_ she noted, smirking slightly as she looked out the window, _why am I not surprised?_

As he parked at West 58th Street, Rachel asked, "So do you have any plans about what we're going to do today?"

He glanced at her before getting out of his car, "Do I look like a man without a plan?"

After grabbing a small backpack from the backseat, Cooper led her towards the south entrance of Central Park, and they started strolling down Center Drive. After a short while of seemingly aimless ambling, Rachel drily remarked, "I can see that you really have a plan."

Cooper raised an eyebrow in response, and said, "Impatient, aren't you?"

Rachel shook her head, and in an attempt to be conversational, asked, "Okay, fine. Then shouldn't we at least talk?"

"I'll be nice and let you choose the topic."

She laughed and turned to look at him, quickly averting her gaze as soon as it landed on his chest again. _Damn that shirt!_ But in doing so, Rachel spotted a Good To Go food cart not far ahead, and steered them both there.

"What was your first time in Central Park like?"

"That would be my first day in New York, which was about a month or so before we started rehearsals. I didn't actually do anything then – just kinda walked around. I skipped the tours and played a spot-scenes-in-movies with myself."

"You walked around alone?" Rachel couldn't prevent the incredulous tone from sneaking into her words.

"Yes, I'm a lonely man," he deadpanned, then grinned as she laughed.

As they reached the food cart, they suspended their conversation to place their orders. Before she could place hers, Cooper mused, "You are obviously getting a Herbivore, and uh, I'll have a Classic Dog."

They quickly got their hotdogs, and Rachel asked, curious, "So you know I'm a vegan?"

"As long as an article about you has a fast facts column, it's listed there."

She coloured slightly, and bit into her hotdog to escape from having to say anything for a few moments. But Cooper continued his story about his maiden Central Park trip.

"I've got to say my first day in New York was really touristy. But my brother used to live here, and he loves this park, so I had to see it for myself."

"You have a brother?"

"We've also got a generation gap, so we've never been really close," he replied, almost a little wistfully. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your family?"

"Apparently you read articles about me; shouldn't you know everything?" she teased.

"You got me, I'm a stalker," he laughed, before continuing, "I know you're an only child, and you have two gay dads."

"And that's all there is to my family."

"Where are your dads?"

"Back in Lima. They work there, and I can't ask them to uproot their lives just for me," she shrugged. "Besides, I'm old enough to be a responsible adult now."

They were moving off Center Drive, onto a side path, and Rachel started to have a sneaking suspicion about the identity of their destination. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he answered cryptically.

"Are we going to the carousel?"

"Yes."

A mental picture of Cooper sitting on a carousel horse started forming in her head, and she quickly dissolved into giggles.

"What?" he demanded, stopping in his tracks.

"Nothing," she managed to sputter. "Are you uh," she took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. "Are we riding a horse each?"

He looked amused at her question. "No, we're riding ten horses each."

Without thinking, she hit his arm playfully. "I'm going to take a video of you on the carousel."

"Don't worry, there are enough people here to take photos and videos of me – and you – on the carousel."

They finished their hotdogs in the queue for tickets, and continued their joking camaraderie while waiting for their turn. It was only when the ride started that Rachel realised that somehow, along the way from her apartment to where they were now, she had stopped disliking Cooper.

_How had that happened?_

In a moment of insanity, she decided to throw caution to the wind and just have fun. That was supposed to be the plan anyway, wasn't it? To try to become friends? To work better together?

It wasn't until later when she got a hint of how screwed she was going to be.

They had walked to Sheep Meadow from the carousel, and like an excited child, Cooper had dug out a picnic blanket from his backpack. After he had laid it down, Rachel plopped ungracefully onto the blanket, but Cooper still had an arm in his backpack, looking a little hesitant.

_Hesitant! That's got to be a first – the great Cooper Anderson being unsure._

He quickly threw a bottle of water to her, which she caught. Then he said, almost shyly, "I, uh, bought cupcakes."

"Really?" she said, curious to see the flavours.

"I got three for you and three for me," he said, taking out three chocolate cupcakes. He glanced at her, and set three in front of her – each with a red V sitting on top of the off-white frosting.

"Vegan red velvet," he announced with a flourish, as he finally sat down opposite her, and took a big gulp of his own bottled water.

Well, shit, who would have known? Cooper Anderson was one big surprise. Other than her dads and her closest friends, no one had ever been so considerate about her vegan-ness. She wasn't about to admit this to anyone, but she felt touched. And it was perhaps what actually convinced her that he had been serious about working together properly.

She took a quick bite of the cupcake, and pronounced it delicious. "Thanks," she added softly, "for…" Her voice trailed off as she gestured vaguely to the cupcakes between them.

He gave her that uncharacteristically gentle smile again, and helpfully volunteered a conversation starter. "So tell me, is there a story worth telling about how your dads met?"

* * *

"We weren't practising lines, Kurt. We were working on how to work better together because as of last week we sucked."

"And now?"

"Director hasn't commented yet, but I think we're improving."

Rachel heard some muffled conversation on Kurt's end of the line, before he got back, saying, "Don't think you're going to get off the hook on this one, Rach. I'm letting you go now because I have to get prepared for dinner and I can't actually stare you in the face and demand information from across the Atlantic Ocean."

"Okay," she chuckled, "go have fun with Blaine."

"He wants to kill you, too, by the way."

"Why?" Rachel asked, genuinely intrigued.

"I want to kill you because I had to find out through the circus that is celebrity gossip, instead of you. He wants to kill you for reasons that I'll let him tell you when he tells you."

She shook her head as she sipped on her coffee, with a smile curving her lips. "Bye, Kurt."

"You're not getting off the hook!"

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this extra-long chapter! It's a special thank you for all the story alerts and favourites (and reviews!) that are making me so happy. Next chapter will bring some Central Park Non-Date from Cooper's POV. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

Cooper had wanted to talk to Rachel first thing in the morning, but his efforts to get to rehearsal early were thwarted by inanity that was traffic. Then came lunch, but Rachel rushed out almost immediately. He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, making his way to the corner where Mark was.

Mark played Mark, and he took every opportunity to joke that if he had been casted as any other character, there would be no end to "Mark!" "Which one?" With his easy sense of humour and youthful charming ways, he was friends with everyone and foes with almost no one – a position that Cooper soon realised was rarely achieved, even in the world of Broadway. Mark quickly became Cooper's closest friend in the cast, and unofficially gained the title of Purveyor of Food, Knowledge, and Gossip.

The younger man was scrolling through his phone, but easily managed to throw a sandwich to Cooper without taking his eyes off the screen. Cooper settled down next to his friend. As he started on his lunch, his mind wandered off to the happenings of Sunday.

If the days of the week didn't already have their first letter capitalised, Sunday would have earned that honour after his– well, it wasn't a date. But their afternoon had gone way better than anything he had dared to expect. Rachel had always been a lot more guarded around him than when she was with the rest of the cast and crew. To be able to spend an afternoon together with easy conversation sprinkled with laughter… well, it was nothing short of a miracle, wasn't it?

To be honest, he had no idea why he cared so much about what Rachel thought. He had always managed to get through filming even if he couldn't stand the actor he had to work with, or vice versa. He told himself it was because Broadway was live, and it's not as easy to prevent actual emotions from seeping into the performance. He told himself it was because the opinions of attractive ladies always mattered. He told himself it was because he was getting a chance to move on up in the world of actors, and he wanted to minimise any likelihood of screwing it all up. He told himself a lot of things, but a part of his brain kept quietly insisting that he was ignoring something that would be painfully obvious, if he would just bother to open his eyes and see.

He allowed that prior to Sunday, he had been a little too eager to get into her good graces. At first, he tried his patented Cooper smirk, along with the full arsenal of women-charming weapons he owned, but none of that had worked on Rachel. In fact, it apparently only served to make her annoyed with him.

Well, that was it. He'd figured out why she had always been so pissed off at him. Pleased with this realisation, a smile slowly spread across his face. It stayed there a few seconds too long, until his brain finally kicked back into operational mode and informed him that he was grinning like a goof for no reason. He smothered the grin with a quick bite of the sandwich, but the only thing its Nutella filling managed to do was to send his mind back to Sunday afternoon.

When Rachel opened the door at her apartment, he was more than a little surprised. Smooth words that he had always had at his fingertips all but vanished, as he took in the sight before him. Anyone else, and he would have scoffed at their attempt of Virginal Girl Next Door, complete with a beret. But Rachel made it work. On her, it wasn't at all cheesy or contrived. She looked sweet and classy. She was beautiful.

And she was cynical, she was effervescent, she had the most melodious laugh he had ever heard. Cooper felt inexplicably proud every time she laughed, courtesy of his words or his actions, and that the sound of her full rich laugh never failed to send his lips curving into a grin.

He knew she had still been cagey on the way to Central Park, and he was thankful that somehow, while they were inside the park, they managed to become more relaxed with each other.

Or at least, Rachel managed to become more relaxed. Cooper found himself remaining slightly on edge, trying to make sure their afternoon wouldn't degenerate into anything disastrous.

On the carousel – and he still didn't know whether he had been crazy to decide on it as their first stop – he caught himself staring at Rachel's dark brown hair, with stray wisps caressing her lips as she threw her head back and released a burst of laughter. Thankfully, she had been engrossed in her own enjoyment, and he was left to wrestle his thoughts back, preventing them from slowly wandering away to forbidden territories.

Then, at their little picnic, their conversation yielded anecdotes from both their lives. They started with how Rachel's dads – Leroy and Hiram – met, which led to how they had made her. Then she started in on some choice "highlights of my Lima days", and after Blaine's revelation in the morning, Cooper's mind almost went off on a tangent. Had she referred to his brother in any of her tales?

But his thoughts weren't about to budge from the topic that was Rachel. She had done most of the talking, but he had also shared about his weakness for all things dark chocolate, and things he'd done in New York since arriving. When it conspired that he hadn't gotten down to properly exploring West Village, Rachel demanded that he do exactly that the next time he found himself with time on his hands.

"_How can you not have gone to West Village?" she asked, pausing between bites of her cupcake._

"_I have," Cooper replied defensively. "I've driven past…"_

"_Like that's good enough."_

"_I don't have time–"_

_His words were quickly interrupted by Rachel's. "I don't care. You have to go and explore West Village." The frustration evident on her face slowly turned into a full-fledged grin. "You could call it work. I'll be your tour guide and you won't be able to say 'I don't have time'."_

The recollection of her promise pushed a thought into consciousness. _I have another date with Rachel._

As if a dam had eroded, a barrage of thoughts swiftly followed.

_It's not a date._

_We haven't decided when it's going to be._

_Why is she so set on West Village anyway?_

_Shit, I hope we'll have the date sooner rather than later._

_IT'S NOT A DATE._

His internal war was brought to a standstill with a low whistle at his side. Mark slapped him lightly on his arm and shoved his phone in front of Cooper's face. "Why have you not told me about this?" he demanded, but the grin on his face stole all semblance of seriousness from his words.

A glance at the screen confirmed Cooper's first thought – reports about their "date" at Central Park, of course. He scoffed at the headline, an obnoxious _New Couple Alert!_, and jabbed at Mark's phone. "Because it's false."

"You mean to say there are geniuses who know how to photoshop you and Rachel on a picnic mat, replete with cupcakes that you are both holding? And oh, the shadows look right, too!"

Cooper rolled his eyes at Mark's twinkling ones. "The photo is real. The whole new couple situation is not."

"So when do I get to know about what's happening in the photo, and the before and after?"

He was saved from answering that question with a loud announcement of "Okay, lunch is over!" Just then, he spotted Rachel entering the room, looking rather amused.

_I still need to tell her Blaine's my brother. Which will have to wait again. And we have to settle West Village._

Mark quirked a smile as he nodded over at Rachel, indicating that he was still waiting for an answer. But the only answer Cooper deigned to give was a light slap on his back, and a shake of his head in exaggerated exasperation.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello readers! A big thank you to those of you who've reviewed, followed and favourited this story. Thanks also to those of you who are quietly reading FSTP; it's nice to see the views increase, too. :) I may or may not be updating next week, thanks to school and assignments and other such obligations of life. But I'll try to, and I'll definitely get an update up by the first weekend of August. Meanwhile, enjoy this chapter!**

"So, what did you get out of Cooper?"

Lisa sat beside him, stretching lazily in the relatively quiet booth they had secured. Her loose white dress rode up her thigh as she moved, and Mark's gaze lingered on the newly exposed skin.

"Thanks for the appreciative ogling, Calloway. Can we get on with this matchmaking business?" she asked drily.

He laughed, and said, "Point taken, Jenners. After you so quickly dragged Rachel out of the room, Coop got cornered by everyone else. His story is that they were working on their chemistry, under the instructions of our dear director."

"That matches Rach's story, and I got that out of her before the media storm." Lisa looked thoughtful, as she stole a sip from his cocktail. "She keeps saying it wasn't a date."

"Same here. But it definitely looked like a date." They were both silent for a few moments, and it was Mark's turn to take a swig from the lone drink at their table. "Oh," he started, recalling something Cooper had said, "Coop wanted to talk to Rachel about something."

Lisa snapped to attention. "About what?"

"He didn't say. He was going to go after you guys, but we got held back." After motioning for another martini, Mark added, "Remind me again why we're doing this?"

"Because we both agree that they have the hots for each other, but for some reason are not acting on it."

"Right."

He reached for his drink, but Lisa beat him to it and finished the glass. Mark sighed, loud and exaggerated. "Why do you always steal my drinks?"

She ignored his complaint, just as she always did. "Breakfast. Tomorrow."

"What?"

"You, me, Coop, Rach. Obviously we're going to make them sit together."

"At my–" Lisa's fervent nod confirmed the location, just as his martini arrived at their table. He passed it to her, "For your great idea."

She took it happily, and downed nearly half of it. "You tell Cooper about breakfast."

Mark nodded in acquiescence, his eyes already flitting across the room. Now that their first order of business was over, it was time to get on with their main programme. "Found any targets yet?"

"Today's selection: not the best."

He laughed again, and grabbed Lisa's hand. "Come on. Dance floor. You can go flirt with the passable men. I've got a target."

She scanned the room again as she stood. It didn't take long for her to spot who he had his eye on. "Blonde, red mini dress?"

"You know me best."

"Tits and ass," she quipped.

"Is your song, and you can go flaunt your bingo-bongos while I stalk my prey." He left her on the dance floor, glancing pointedly at her cleavage. She grinned at him, and with a slap on his ass, sent him off to work his charm with the ladies.

* * *

"I just want to know: is he a good man? If he makes you happy, if he's true to you, then you have our blessings. You're a big girl now…"

Rachel had given up on trying to get a word in edgewise, so she sat in front of her laptop, looking at her beloved dads via Skype. Apparently, they had been hounded by all their friends and acquaintances all day long, thanks to the stir she and Cooper had caused. To be honest, she was sure that she didn't deserve any credit for making tabloid news. All credit went to whoever had snapped photos, and to those practising their yarn spinning skills speculating about their relationship status.

She could easily clear that up for the world, if anyone would just believe that their relationship status was "colleagues, possibly friends". Not lovers.

Never lovers.

Having spent most of the day tossing the idea around in her head, Rachel had come to terms with the fact that, basing things entirely on looks, she was attracted to Cooper. Heck, anyone she knew from 18 to 80 thought he was hot. As for actual talking, conversation somehow flowed easily between them. But she could deal with that. She was just sure anyone who dared to diss Broadway – call it dead! – would never be relationship material for her.

"So, baby girl," her daddy Hiram was saying, "what's the deal with this Cooper guy?"

Finally! Time for her to speak!

"Dads, it wasn't a date." The four words were becoming something of a mantra. She had lost count of the number of times she had said it – to Kurt, to Lisa, to her other cast mates, to her friends, to her neighbours, and now to her dads. "I fear you have been deceived by the tabloids."

"No, no, no, it definitely looked like a date. I know a date when I see one!"

"Well, if you insist on calling it a date, it was a work date, okay?"

"Ahh, work dates." It was now daddy Leroy's turn to speak. "Isn't that our area of expertise, Hiram?"

"Indeed." Her dads exchanged knowing grins, and Rachel couldn't help but place her hands on her hips, arms akimbo.

"My dear dads, what is going on?"

"Just keep telling yourself there's nothing going on."

"Exactly!"

Rachel shook her head, smiling in spite of her frustration. Why wouldn't anyone believe that absolutely _nothing_ was happening between her and Cooper? Just then, her apartment door opened, revealing Lisa with mussed-up hair. One look at her laptop on the table got Lisa bounding over.

"Hello, Mr. and Mr. Berry!"

"Well, even Lisa's home!" Her dads glanced at the clock – at least, daddy Leroy glanced at the wall clock, and daddy Hiram stole a look at the time on the computer. "Alright, baby girl, it's late, time to sleep."

"Good night, dads."

After an extended exchange of good-nights and sweet-dreams, Rachel shut down her laptop, and traipsed to her room. Just before she slipped into bed, Lisa poked her head into her room, freshly showered. "Wait, Rach, we're doing breakfast at Mark's tomorrow."

"The family bistro?"

"Yep. Wake up earlier, girl. We've got a table for four." With that, she disappeared into her room.

"Table for four?" Rachel called, certain her voice was loud enough to be heard by her roommate. When she didn't get a response, she went around to Lisa's room and opened her door. "Table for four?"

"Yes, what are you? Hard of hearing?"

"Who's the fourth?" she asked. The only response she got was a self-satisfied smile on Lisa's face. She promptly flipped on her side to face away from Rachel.

"Good night, Rachel!"

_Well, isn't that great. Off to a bar with a friend, my foot. She must have gone scheming with Mark. Which can only mean that breakfast tomorrow is with Cooper._

Rachel groaned, and entered Lisa's room to smack her butt. "Thanks a lot, Lisa."

* * *

He laughed at the screen of his laptop, as his publicist and friend uttered her famous catchphrase. "You just continue saying that to everything I ask," Cooper grinned.

"Everyone likes that there's at least something predictable about me."

"So, any ideas?"

Just as Holly started to answer his question, his phone rang. A jaunty tune of Mark singing "Gonorrhea, gonorrhea!" filled the room.

"Okay, hold that thought," he said to Holly, who just raised an eyebrow at him. Cooper picked up his phone, and asked, "Right, when did you change my ringtone?"

"I only changed it for my calls, man. Anyway, breakfast tomorrow at the bistro. Not a request."

"You're demanding things of me now?" Cooper joked, "What if I'm not free?"

A beat of silence ensued, before Mark asked, slightly skeptical, "You have a date?"

"No, but…"

"Then it's not a problem. Lisa and Rachel are joining us. Bye!" his friend hung up, leaving him bewildered. As he tried to figure out what exactly just happened, Holly's voice sounded from his laptop.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Mark just…" he shook his head, in an attempt to clear his thoughts. "He's up to something."

"And you know that because?"

"He doesn't usually hang up in less than a minute. And now we have breakfast tomorrow with Lisa and Rachel."

"Ah," Holly nodded in understanding, as a smile slowly spread across her face. "I say we should just let things be first, and see what that Calloway boy tries to do tomorrow."

"Okay…" Cooper paused, before adding, "So no statements, no clarifications, no anything?"

"No anything," she repeated, then stared at him for a moment. He stared back and raised his brows, as she seemed to contemplate what to say. "You're sure you're not dating Rachel?"

"Oh, damn it. Doesn't anyone believe me?"

"Rachel's a nice girl. If you're planning on dating her, please go resolve your issues first."

He paused again, as Holly's words sank in. "Wait, you mean you know her?"

"I knew her. We didn't really keep in contact." She seemed to sense that he wanted more information, and helpfully added, "I was her substitute teacher."

Cooper rubbed his hand across his face, "Okay, well."

She laughed softly, as something off screen caught her attention. "You wanna go and sleep on this information?"

He shook his head and sighed, and used her one-liner back at her. "I thought you'd never ask."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm back! This took a week longer than I expected to get done. Also, I feel pretty uninspired, so this chapter is pretty short/filler and not all that good. :( I'll do better next chapter!**

Rachel was distracted. She was trying to concentrate on eating her breakfast – hot and delicious, thanks to the cooking talents of Mrs. Calloway – but her mind had other plans. One of which was to figure out what exactly her friends across the table were doing. The other was to find out how to start talking to the man beside her without feeling all sorts of awkward.

"Hey, what do you think they are doing?" Cooper asked, his voice low.

Rachel glanced at him, before looking over at Lisa and Mark, who were goofing around with Mark's phone in front of them. Alternating between whispering and pulling funny faces, Lisa was trying to finish her plate of eggs benedict while doing whatever it was she was doing with Mark.

"Well, you reached late, so you don't know," Rachel whispered to Cooper, "but Lisa is on a mission to revive her Twitter account. I have no idea why. She's probably taking photos with Mark. Why are we whispering?"

"I don't know," he said. The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement as he grinned.

"Well, she's already tweeted a photo with me before we even entered here. And Mark is her official partner-in-crime."

"What's her Twitter handle?"

"It's just her name, here…" Rachel took Cooper's phone from the table, and after finding Lisa's profile, handed it back to him. After scanning it, he pressed something on the screen, then left his phone on the table.

"So, how crazy were they before I got here?" he asked.

"Just as crazy as they are now," Rachel replied drily. "Seriously, finding a parking spot won't be a good enough excuse next time. These two are insane if you leave them together."

"I can see that." Cooper laughed, and took in a mouthful of his own breakfast. "By the way," he started, and paused before continuing cautiously, "I was talking to my publicist last night. She said she knows you."

Rachel raised her brows in response.

"Holly Holiday. Ring any bells?"

"Miss Holiday?" Rachel repeated, slightly incredulous. "She was my substitute teacher!"

"Always says 'I thought you'd never ask'?"

"Well, same person." She still felt a little dumbfounded. A quick mental calculation told her it had been eight years since they had last met. But the Miss Holiday eight years ago definitely wouldn't have gotten a stable job. "What were you guys talking about?"

Lisa's emphatic cheer interrupted their conversation before he could answer. "Thanks, Cooper!"

"No problem!" He grinned and winked at her, as Mark laughed.

She must have looked puzzled, because when Cooper looked at her, he explained, "I followed her."

Rachel nodded, smiling as she finished what was left of her breakfast. "No wonder she's so excited."

"So easily entertained," he remarked, before taking a sip of his coffee. "Where were we– Right, tell me about Holly in her substitute teacher days."

"Well, um…" Rachel wasn't expecting this request, and in the moment, couldn't think of anything to say.

"I mean, Lisa and Mark don't look like they are going to be done anytime soon, and Holly's never told me much about her pre-publicist days."

* * *

Cooper drank his coffee as Rachel related a story about Holly taking over her high school glee club in the glee club director's absence. She spoke animatedly, gesturing and laughing as she recalled their group performance of a mash-up of Singing in the Rain and Umbrella.

"Somehow they got water onto the stage in the auditorium, and we were just kicking it all around and playing with our umbrellas. It was so fun!" Rachel sighed happily, then smiled. "How is she now?"

"She's great. She's married now, you know?" He grinned as her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Hey, Coop, Rach. We're going now," Mark said, before adding in a stage whisper, "She's done with Twitter for now."

As they all stood to leave, his phone pinged with a notification. **Mark Calloway mentioned you on Twitter!** Cooper raised his eyebrow, as Mark shrugged sheepishly at him. "I was under orders," he said.

"What?" Rachel prodded him, and he handed her his phone. Apparently, they hadn't just been taking photos of themselves; they had taken photos of him and Rachel, too. And Mark had tweeted one of them. It was pretty ironic that the photo was of Rachel telling him about Lisa's latest obsession.

"I knew he was up to something," Cooper muttered under his breath. The two culprits had run off ahead of them, and he was left with just Rachel.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, having overheard him.

"I told Holly last night. He was acting weird over the phone."

"So that was what you guys were talking about?"

He hesitated, before answering, "Actually, we were talking about the articles. Mark interrupted us."

"Oh." They walked in silence for a while, before she asked, "What did she say?"

Recalling Holly's advice, Cooper smirked. "She said to let things be and see what Mark tries to do."

Rachel laughed. "I think we've seen what he wanted to do. They're obviously in cahoots."

"Mark and Lisa?"

She nodded, just as his phone rang. They had already reached their rehearsal studio, and after a glance at the screen, he motioned for Rachel to go in first. When she had turned the corner, he answered the call.

"Yes, Blaine?"


	8. Chapter 8

It would be another off day tomorrow. By virtue of that fact, nearly the whole cast was in the bar, dancing and drinking, letting loose and having fun. A rather random and spontaneous had been made during rehearsal earlier in the day, and a combination of peer pressure and having nothing better to do led him here.

Cooper leaned against the wall and nursed his drink as he mulled over the events of the week. Despite the not necessarily pleasant surprises, the days had still flown by. Blaine's call on the day of The Breakfast was, once again, to warn him off Rachel.

"I saw Lisa's twitter," his brother had said. "I'll take your word that you're just friends, but I'm just reminding you."

He didn't understand why Blaine had to call, just to "remind" him. After all, the boy was all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, presumably busy with his clients.

Or so he thought. The next day, he reached the rehearsal studio, only to be stunned by the sight that greeted him at the door. Blaine, in New York. Talking to Rachel, who seemed pretty excited. Suffice it to say that Rachel had been introduced to the two Andersons as brothers. Her brown eyes opened wide at the news, disbelieving at first.

His eyes landed on her now. She was dancing with abandon to the pounding music, her hair whipping around into a dishevelled yet sexy-looking mess. Her dress didn't cling to her body, but teased him as it floated around her curves, or lifted to show a bit more of her skin. He downed his drink, and moved to the bar, purposefully moving his gaze away from her.

"I'm here on business. And personal business." Blaine's voice came to him again, as Cooper sat on a just-vacated bar stool. They had had a brief dinner together, the same day he had appeared so suddenly in the city. Cooper had raised his brows silently at that answer, and his brother elaborated.

"A client of mine has some trouble with a… shall we say, personal indiscretion. His problems are becoming more problematic, and he's filming in New York, so here I am." It was clear that Blaine wasn't about to elaborate about his "personal business", but it was also obvious what he had meant.

"Do I know this client of yours?"

"Possibly."

That had been the bulk of their conversation. The only other things Cooper had learnt from that dinner was that his brother would be in town for an indefinite amount of time, and that Kurt, the boyfriend, was still in London.

Blaine hadn't asked to stay at his house.

He hadn't offered, either.

Just then, a warm hand slid down his arm, and a light breath tickled his neck. He startled slightly, before the person started to speak.

"Someone told me before that people fall into certain archetypes when they get drunk. The same person told me that when I'm drunk, I become a needy drunk." She fell onto the seat beside him, which had become empty at some point while he had been lost in thoughts. "Am I drunk yet?"

The damn dress inched up her thigh as she motioned for a shot. Rachel turned to face him, leaning with an elbow on the bar. From the glazed look in her eyes, she was already at least slightly drunk.

"I don't know. Are you?"

"Not yet," she grinned and downed the shot. Slipping out from her seat, she grabbed his hand. "Come on, dance!"

Amused, he let her drag him into the crowd, as he said, "There's a reason why I play the director, not one of the dancers."

She threw her head back and laughed, and proceeded to rub herself on him. The DJ had, incidentally, put on a slightly slower song, and a quick look around told him most people were either gyrating or moving to their own beat. He stifled a groan as Rachel looped her arms around his neck and whispered, "Hold me."

He let his arms rest lightly on her hips, knowing his body was reacting to her proximity. It figured. The one person he had set his eyes on was the one person his brother was deciding would be off-limits.

Cooper saw Mark approach, and hoped that somehow his friend would get him out of this situation. Pausing behind Rachel, Mark mimed a wolf whistle and smirked. He shook his head, but the movement only caused Rachel to snuggle her face into his neck. "You smell good," she murmured.

He dragged in a slow breath in an effort to calm himself down, but all he smelt was Rachel's fruity scent, and it was worse than futile. "So do you," he replied, sounding slightly hoarse even to himself, and turned his attention to Mark.

"Lisa is going insane. I need to get her home." The four of them had agreed earlier that Cooper would take driver's duty and send them home. But for some reason, it seemed that Mark had stayed sober as well.

"Lisa is the happy drunk," Rachel said into his shirt.

He closed his eyes for a second and prayed for strength. "We need to go now, Rachel."

"It's still early!" she pouted, looking up at him.

"We need to go," he repeated, gently removing one of her arms from his neck.

"Paparazzi outside, by the way," Mark whispered as he passed to find Lisa.

_Shit._

"Thanks for the warning."

He manoeuvred the two of them through the crowd, keeping an arm around Rachel as she leaned against him. Cooper stayed inside the bar until Mark arrived with Lisa draped over him, giggling maniacally at something only she was privy to.

Steeling himself, he told Mark, "Make a run for it."

And a run, they attempted to make, as they exited the bar. It wasn't that easy, though, with the two drunken women using them as support, but they eventually all got inside his car.

_Blaine's going to kill me._

* * *

"They'd better not vomit in my car."

"I'm not sure I can guarantee that."

Cooper let out a groan, as Rachel whined, "Where are we going? I want more drinks." Lisa laughed hysterically in the backseat, and he caught Mark rolling his eyes through his rear-view mirror.

"I don't think we should let them go home together in this state," Mark commented.

"You want to take both?"

The younger man leaned forward and punched Cooper's arm. "I'll take Lisa. You can take Rachel." At that, Lisa broke into a fit of giggles again.

He ran a hand through his hair. Mark had a point, and Cooper couldn't possibly saddle him with both women. But he was sure his brother would have words to say if Rachel were to spend the night as his house. He let out a long breath, before agreeing to the plan.

"I'll let you guys off first."

* * *

She had fallen asleep in the car. He carried her into his apartment, and left her on his bed. He took off her shoes, and placed them carefully on the floor. As he covered her with his blanket, she stirred.

Muttering something incoherent, she held his wrist in a loose grip, gently tugging him onto the bed.

"What?" he asked.

"C'mere" was the slurred answer.

Hesitantly, he got into bed, lying on his side. She made what sounded like a happy sigh, and wrapped her arms around him, burrowing her face into his chest.

* * *

"Nice acting drunk," he praised, once Cooper had turned the corner.

"Do I really do that when I'm drunk?"

"You've seen the videos."

"Shut up." She smacked his ass, and gestured for him to lead the way. "Your parents won't ask why I'm staying over, will they?"

"They're already asleep. Just keep quiet; they won't even know you're here."

"Where exactly am I sleeping?"

"Where else? Do you want to take the toilet?"


	9. This is not a chapter

**Hello, my dearest readers. I'm thinking about redoing this story, because I started it without a middle in mind, and now I feel like my characterisation sucks. So for the time being, these chapters will be left here, but when I'm done with the reworked story on my computer I'll upload them here again. Thanks for sticking around, and I'll try not to leave you guys hanging for too long! :)**


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